Sharing public services can help bring down their cost -- a big plus in today’s economy -- but consolidation has never caught on among New Jersey’s communities

As property-tax bills continue to rise across New Jersey, lawmakers are taking a new look at ways to encourage municipal officials to find savings by merging with a neighboring town.

The effort comes nearly a decade after a similar legislative endeavor, but there’s only been one successful municipal consolidation since that attempt, the 2013 joining together of Princeton Borough and Princeton Township.

So now, after 2015 set a new record for New Jersey property-tax bills -- with the average amount rising to $8,353 -- lawmakers are trying again by advancing legislation that would change rules applying to property tax assessments, debt, employment, and other areas that can trip up potential mergers.

A string of allegedly racist and anti-Semitic social media posts has an entire New Jersey school district zeroing in on cultural sensitivity, diversity, and the internet.

Officials in the South Orange-Maplewood school district confirmed three recent incidents in which students posted insensitive messages and photos to their social media accounts.

According to Maplewoodian.com, all three posts were on Instagram. The first from Columbia High School students showed girls darkening their faces and making comments indicating they were dressing up in "black face," the site said. The second, from a South Orange Middle School student, included anti-Semitic imagery, and the third a "white face counter video" posted in retaliation for the earlier incident, the site reported.